"The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He *said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.
The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." But He answered them, "You give them something to eat!" And they *said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?" And He *said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they *said, "Five, and two fish." And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. There were five thousand men who ate the loaves."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're so glad you're here. Please continue to pray for this ministry as we continue to work to introduce the Gospel and Jesus Christ to a number of Middle-Eastern and Asian countries. We praise God for the countless people that have come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose lives are being radically transformed by the power of the Gospel.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're so glad you're here. Please continue to pray for this ministry as we continue to work to introduce the Gospel and Jesus Christ to a number of Middle-Eastern and Asian countries. We praise God for the countless people that have come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose lives are being radically transformed by the power of the Gospel.
This one of the most familiar stories of all the miracles Jesus performed, as well as one of the most significant in terms of quantity, marking what would be the end of His Galilean ministry. All the work that Jesus has been doing throughout the area was setting the stage for this final public miracle, a powerful display of both His divine power and His compassion feeding a massive crowd of five thousand by what can only be described as a supernatural act that could only be done by the Creator Himself. This is significant because it is the biggest miracle He has done yet and one of the only two miracles that are recorded by all four of the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The second is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Allow me to draw your attention to the fact that Jesus set aside this time to be alone with the disciples after He has just learned of the death of John the Baptist. And even though He escaped to a secluded place by boat, but when He arrived on shore there were massive crowds of people waiting for Him. Rather than to find another place to be alone and tend to His own hurt, Jesus addressed the hurt of the people and healed them. I believe Jesus is challenging each of us to learn from His unmatched compassion for those in need.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for Your Word, for the power and clarity in which it speaks to our hearts to live consistent with the teaching of Christ. Lord, I pray that You would touch the hearts of those for whom this message is desperately needed, that who are living unaltered lives might truly be converted to true saving faith and embrace Him as Lord. Lord, we pray that You would awaken the the hearts of those who are deceived, that You may be glorified and Christ lifted up and exalted, even today. Father, we are grateful that You lovingly provide for your own, supplying all our needs according to your riches in Christ.
In Christ's name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: When God supplies
Open your Bible to the Gospel of Mark chapter six verses 30-44. Mark 6-30-44. I invite you to follow along with me as I read, to set the text in our
minds, as we prepare our hearts for the Spirit of God is saying to each
of us. Listen for the voice of our Lord.
"The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He *said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.
The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When
Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for
them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to
teach them many things. When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." But He answered them, "You give them something to eat!" And they *said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?" And He *said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they *said, "Five, and two fish." And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. There were five thousand men who ate the loaves."
Let's look at verse 30, "The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught." Here we see a preview of the church today, those of us who are called and sent must stand before the Lord and must give an account all that we have done and have taught. That's the standard of faithful ministry, to do what we’ve been called to do, in order to give an account that is pleasing to Him. The apostles were told to go out in pairs and preach that men should repent. Now, it’s time to stop preaching, we're not told how long they’ve been gone just that they have come back, and they gathered together with Jesus, to give their reports to Him of their successes and their failures. Some of us know that if you are faithfully doing the work of the Lord, for countless hour on end, that it can be exhausting. Nobody understands more than our Lord that there is a time for preaching repentance, proclaiming the Gospel of grace and a time for rest.
Verse 31, "And He *said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) It's important to understand that we are useful for the Kingdom, it is tremendous privilege to be called to ministry, but we’re not necessary. We are all expendable; God will continue move whether we take a rest or if we sacrificially give our life. Our Lord knows what it is to be mentally and physically worn out and He understands our need for rest. We all need to get away, if we are going to be replenished.
Verses 32, "They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves." Mark doesn’t tell us where they went, but Luke tells us they withdrew to a city called Bethsaida, also known as Julias, a small fishing village, which was believed to be located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, across the water, east of Capernaum. I say believed because we don’t know the exact location of where the ancient abandoned village lies, there aren't any lasting ruins probably because Jesus pronounced damnation, cursing, condemnation, judgment on Bethsaida. The miracle of feeding the five thousand was no doubt in part reason for that judgment.
Bethsaida was built by Philip the Tetrarch, one of the brothers of Herod Antipas, who named it for the daughter of Augustus Caesar, and inherited a section of the divided kingdom after Herod the Great’s death, and it has been identified as where Jesus miraculously fed the masses with the five loaves and two fish. By the way, Bethsaida is the village where Peter and Andrew and Philip and Nathaniel, four of the apostles grew up and were called by the Lord. Next, we'll see that though rest is important, it takes a backseat to the Gospel. Jesus and the apostles were looking for rest, the crowds wanted to healed, delivered from unclean spirits. While God still performs miracles today, according to His good pleasure and His plan, the Church age is characterized by the preaching of the Gospel.
Verse 33, "The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them." It's interesting, that these people saw them going and recognized them and were able to run faster than they were able to get there by boat which surely wouldn't have taken long, because it says they "got there ahead of them." They would've had to have run the entire way. You would think Jesus would be irritated by the intrusion, but Luke tells us He began "welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing." What a beautiful illustration of the heart of God meeting both their spiritual and physical needs. I'd like to draw your attention to He began by first speaking to them about the kingdom of God, meaning He called them to repentance, to believe for the forgiveness of sins and to receive eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven, then healing those who were in need. As important as ones physical needs are, man's greatest need is spiritual healing.
I love what Mark says in verse 34, "When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things." He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. If you're like most people today, they know very little about sheep, and you have probably not had any experience with shepherding, but this is a graphic illustration, because sheep will die without a shepherd. They are unable to protect themselves, feed themselves, and water must be very close in proximity, so it can be easily found. And, if they fall on their back, they can't even get themselves back on their feet, they will literally starve to death. They need a shepherd to care for them, and lead them to a safe place. Unlike most animals, that have a God given instinct to find their way back home, if a sheep wanders off, or is taken into an unfamiliar territory, it becomes totally lost, even within just few miles of their home. They will walk around in endless circles, bleating continually in confusion and panic with no idea how to get back to where it’s supposed to be. Sheep are utterly helpless without a shepherd.
Is it any wonder why Scripture refers to people as sheep? When Jesus saw the disoriented, confused, spiritually lost souls in the crowd and realized they had no no shepherd to lead them, He felt compassion for them. As you know, we are prone to go astray and we could never find our way back to the Lord without the Great Shepherd leading us back to the fold. And He rejoices over the one who was lost but has been found more than over those which have not gone astray. Sheep not only need to be rescued, but they must also be protected.
Verses 35-36, "When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." When it was already quite late, tells us Jesus has been teaching and healing all day, and His disciples, presumably collectively, agreed it was getting late and came to Him and said, these people have been here all day and they need to eat, so let's send them away. Perhaps, they began to feel their own stomachs gnawing, we know earlier Mark said they did not even have time to eat. Even if they managed to eat while they were on the boat, it probably wasn't enough to satisfy their hunger. The disciples recognize there’s no capability to feed all these people. Not only do they have enough food on hand, they don't have enough money to buy food if there was somewhere nearby from which to buy it and they would need a place to prepare it. Food in those days was a big issue, they didn't have places to eat on every corner like we have today. Keep in mind this was a desolate area and the crowd was massive, we're told there were five thousand men, and Matthew adds "besides women and children." Assuming many of them had wives and children, there could have easily been upwards of twenty or as twenty-five thousand people, possibly even more.
Verse 37, "But He answered them, "You give them something to eat!" This is not a suggestion, it's a command. "And they *said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?" This is clear evidence of the goodness of God, notice He instructs the disciples to feed them all without discrimination. Matthew 5:45 says "He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." This is what is called common grace, everything comes from the hand God, as a result of His original creation, which the whole world enjoys. God graciously extends His benevolence to all people, regardless of their attitude toward Him. They had witnessed Him heal the sick, the blind and the lame, casting out unclean spirit, and raise the dead, but this, this is beyond their comprehension! They'd never seen Him create food. John tells us in chapter 6 that Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?" And Philip cynically said, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little."
Verse 38, "And He *said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they *said, "Five, and two fish." Luke adds they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people." John tells us Andrew said "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?" Their responses are sarcastic. What is five loaves of bread and two fish going to do to feed all these people? From a limited human perspective, they're facing a real dilemma with no solution in sight, it's too big for the disciples process. There's not enough food, there's not enough money and there's no place to buy it. The real issue is they don’t have the faith necessary to make the transition from the physical to the spiritual. Cannot the One Who created the grain to make the bread, and the fish in the first place, not create even more?
Verse 39, "And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass." This is one of those divine commands you just don't question, you simply submit and do as you are told. Verse 40 says "They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties." With everyone sitting down, separated by groups, I imagine by now the disciples are scratching their heads saying to themselves, "OK, we did exactly as You've commanded us, and in case You hadn't noticed, we're in no better position than we were, now what?" They only looked at the resources they possessed.
And then it happens, look at verse 41, "And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all." Imagine their surprise when the five loaves and the two fish suddenly became enough to feed all these people. Notice Mark says "and He kept giving." I love that. Then in verse 42, "They all ate and were satisfied." Can you imagine, a meal being produced for thousands upon thousands of people from grain that was never planted and fish that never swam? The Greek verb "chortazó," means to gorge; in other words, they literally stuffed themselves until they were unable to eat anymore. Most of us don't like to think of gorging ourselves, but bare in mind, this food was created supernaturally, it's uncursed; they probably couldn't help themselves never having tasted anything like it before.
That brings us to verses 43-44, "And they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. There were five thousand men who ate the loaves." Isn't it amazing that the God Who creates knows exactly how much to create. He not provided enough food to satisfy the massive crowd, they enough for each of the twelve apostles. The Greek word for basket is "kóphinos" which is a large basket carried by Jews for food, much like you’d carry your lunch in. John tells us "Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."
In Closing..
God often teaches us to exercise our faith by either depending on Him and His unlimited provision or relying upon our own limited resources. Let me tell you, it is amazing what God can do, when we give Him thanks
for what He's already provided and offering Him everything we have, and
humbly trust Him to provide what we need. I cannot begin to tell you how
many times I have personally experienced the miracle of God's provision
in my own life, even to this very day. I've lost count of the number of
times I've said "OK Lord, here's what I've got, it's Yours and I don't
know how You're going to do it, I just know that You can." And guess what, He meets my every need, strengthening my every time!
It's sad many only come to Christ for what they can get from Him, and have no interest in a meaningful relationship with Him, as was the case with most of them that day. But I'm also sure some came to believe in Him.
Jesus said "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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